Nitrogen

Rutherford removed the oxygen from air by having a mouse breathe it until

it died

then burning a candle and phosphorus in it until they

wouldn’t burn

then passing what remained through a solution to absorb the

fixed air

and he called the air that remained

noxious air.

*

Scheele, Cavendish, and Priestly called it burnt air or

phlogisticated air.

Antoine Lavoisier called it mephitic air or

azote,

which means “lifeless,” because animals

died in it.

Atomic number 7

Over three-quarters of the atmosphere on earth

is nitrogen

but in the atmosphere it is an inert triple-bonded

diatomic gas.

All amino acids essential in human nutrition

contain nitrogen

and nitrogen is also required for our

DNA.

To get this nitrogen we depend

on plants.

Plants also depend on nitrigen and use

an enzyme

to cleave diatomic nitrogen to make ammonia

or nitrate.

*

The energy it takes to cleave diatomic

nitrogen

is stored in atomic nitrogen or nitrogen compounds

and available

for cleaners, fertilizer, poisons, rocket fuel,

and explosives.

Stuff that explodes

Stuff that explodes can be a shock.

Some don’t remember what happened to them

even though they must live with the damage.

The roots of violence are deep, but easy to uncover.

Famine, war, genocide, persecution, religious extremism

are the damage, not the stuff that explodes.

I wish I could claim that victims

and perpetrators of ignorance, hatred, and greed

might learn to live in a state of grace.

Humankind already has prescriptions and proscriptions for peace.
Apparently, that’s not enough.
Gradually, our activities have been poisoning our soil and water
with nitrates and nitrites,
which have damaging effects on our health.